Living out the Consequences
by Boheny1
Summary: Summary: Takes place after New Moon. Alice never saw Bella jump from the cliff. 10 years have passed since that fateful night alone in the woods. Bella's moved on. When she re-unites with the Cullens, how will everyone act?
1. Chapter 1

Summary: [Takes place after New Moon. Alice never saw Bella jump from the cliff.] 10 years have passed since that fateful night alone in the woods. Bella's heart has healed the gaping wound Edward's absence left. Now, as a wife, mother, and teacher in a new school, Bella thinks she can handle anything. But what happens when the Cullens make an appearance in her life again? Will old wounds be re-opened? Or has she really moved on? Can Edward accept the consequences of his actions?

**First Day of School**

It was the first day of school and Bella was anxious to meet her new students. The first day of school jitters had her awake before her alarm had a chance to go off. Since going back to sleep seemed impossible, she decided to get a head start on getting ready for work.

Bella slipped out of bed as quietly as she could, careful not to wake her husband, and tip-toed into the bathroom where she proceeded to shower and get ready for the day. When Bella came out of the bathroom, she noticed that the bed was empty.

She followed the soft voices through the house and found her husband and two twin boys in the kitchen, making a mess. The scene brought a smile to her face. Clearly they were trying to make breakfast. From the looks of it, it looked like they were attempting to make waffles but it appeared that most of the batter ended up on the counter or on the three boys, and not in the waffle iron.

Bella giggled. Jake's keen ears picked up the nearly imperceptible noise and cocked his head in her direction. The sight of Jake's face brought a new wave of giggles to Bella and she snorted in an effort to keep them contained. It looked as though one of her little boys had decorated Jake's face with waffle batter. Jake tried to scowl, but was hard when he was too busy trying to contain his laughter as well.

"Mama!" said Josh. "We make breakfast."

"I can see that." replies a smiling Bella. "Mmhm. I'm hungry. When will it be ready?"

"Here, Mama." says the John, pointing to a plate on the counter with a few finished waffles.

Bella, after grabbing some plates and forks, sat down at the table and waited for the boys to finish. After the last of the batter had been poured into the waffle iron, Jake wiped up the messy boys and sent them towards their mother so he could wipe up the counters. It was sort of a tradition now, to eat breakfast together. Granted, usually it was cereal, but it was nice to come together as a family before everyone's days got hectic.

Biting into the first waffle, Bella smiled towards her boys. "Mmmh. These are yummy! Thanks for breakfast!"

The boys just smiled back, too busy stuffing their faces full of waffle to say anything.

"We were hoping we could send you off with a proper breakfast for your first day and all." says Jake.

"Thanks." Bella couldn't help but be filled with love, sitting there eating breakfast with her favorite men. It must have been one good breakfast too because everyone was too busy stuffing their faces with more waffles. _The boys sure get their appetites from their father, _Bella thought as she watched the boys reach for another section of waffle.

"Well," Bella says, glancing at the clock, "I guess I'm off to work than. I'm going to miss hanging out with you guys today." Grabbing her stuff she leans over to kiss the boys on their heads, "be good for your daddy today. I'll pick you up later at the sitter's, okay?"

"-Kay, Mama." the boys say in unison.

"Have a good day at work, babe." Bella says, leaning over to plant a kiss on her husband. "Love you."

"Love you, more." Jake says. Bella just smiled. It was an ongoing contest they had. When they first got married they used to get in a whole battle of who loved who more. Now it seemed to be their signature parting words.

Bella got to school in record time and spent the extra minutes pacing around her classroom, checking things twice, even three times, to make sure everything was ready and in order to teach her classes today. Each school year brought on a new experience for her. High school students always varied so much. Last year she was lucky to have many brilliant eager minds, which made teaching English Lit such a joy. She really hoped this next school year would be as rewarding. Glancing at the clock, it was 15 minutes till. Bella decided to go over the roll. There were always a name or two that took her a while to figure out how to pronounce and even then she always seemed to mess up at least one of them. Still, she tried to review the roll sheet to familiarize herself with them anyways.

The bell rings and chatty students start to pour in. Bella's at the door, smiling and greeting them as they come into her classes. Her smile freezes when she thinks she sees a face from her past. _Alice? _Bella thought. She gives herself a mental shake. That wasn't a name she allowed herself to think for years. It was probably just a student who looked similar.

The school day seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye. The first day of school was always the most fun. It was a day Bella spent getting to know her classes. Before she knew it she was dismissing students and preparing for her prep period / lunch. After organizing her desk, Bella grabbed a stack of papers and purse and headed towards the teacher's lounge to relax and read for lunch.

Fumbling with all the stuff, she tried to move everything to one arm and lock the classroom with the other. Time can change a lot, but it apparently had no affect on Bella's grace. After awkwardly fumbling for a few minutes, everything seemed to tumble to the floor. Papers went flying everywhere. Sighing, Bella knelt to pick them all up.

Bella was too busy concentrating on berating her clumsiness to hear someone approach her, so she jumped in surprise when a hand shoots into her field of vision with a stack full of paper.

"Here you go," says the sweet musical voice that echoes with familiarity in Bella's mind.

Glancing up, Bella's mouth falls open in shock. "Alice?"

Alice smiles at Bella. "Hey, Bella."

"W-w-what are you doing here?" Bella's mind seemed to have frozen in shock. A million questions seemed to build in her head and she couldn't chose which to ask first.

"Helping you, of course." replies Alice, as though it should be obvious.

"Huh?" was Bella's intelligent response.

"I saw the need for a helping hand, so I asked for a bathroom pass, and here I am."

"You…" Bella pauses, her mind trying to work out everything. She glances around as though she expected the other Cullens to be standing there in the hallway watching them. "You go to school here?"

"Yup" Alice says, popping her lips on the "p."

Bella was bombarded with a cornucopia of emotions. She was happy, excited to see them again, yet she was furious, hurt, and a bit scared. Her emotions seemed to be flip flopping so much, she couldn't decide what to even say to Alice. Thoughts were flying through her brain. Memories she hadn't allowed herself to remember suddenly resurfaced to her consciousness. After what seemed like ages, Bella finally seemed to decide to stick to the facts. They are students in this school. She was a teacher. Bella couldn't allow herself to think beyond those two facts, for now anyways.

"Thank you for your help, Alice. Now you better run along, back to your class before you get in trouble for being gone too long." _I need to keep this strictly student/teacher professionalism_, thought Bella. Bella tried to smile at Alice, but felt it was obvious it was a forced effort.

Bella thought she saw disappointment in Alice's face, but whatever emotion was momentarily displayed was quickly replaced with the perfectly happy mask.

"Sure. Ms…?"

"It's Mrs. Bella, in school. Anything else makes me feel old." Bella replies with a small smile. At least this smile was genuine. Alice seemed to know the difference, because she smiled in response as well.

"Alright, Ms. Bella. I guess I'll see you later." with that, Alice skipped off to class. Everything seemed to just be going a million miles an hour in Bella's mind. She needed to get out and think a little bit. It'd be pointless to go to the teacher's lounge now. Glancing at her watch, Bella made the decision to put the papers back on her desk, they could be graded later, and to just get out for a while. She had a 2 hour break with her prep period and lunch hour. She desperately needed to talk to someone and suddenly she knew just where she needed to be.

Bella pulled her car into the shop and headed for the garage. Embry was out front with a customer, and upon spotting her, he cocked his head in the direction he knew she needed to go. Silently and carefully Bella walked around to the back of the shop where she found a familiar pair of legs sticking out from underneath a car.

"Hey good looking," she said in what was her attempt at a sexy and sultry voice, "how much would it cost me to have you work underneath my hood."

Jacob rolled out from under the car with a huge smirk on his face. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

Returning his smile, Bella knelt down next to him. Was it totally weird how she found him extremely sexy when he was all grungy and dirty from working on cars all day? "I just needed you."

Jakes eyebrows crease in confusion. "First day of school not going good?" He knew her too well. On a perfectly normal day, Bella would use her lunch break to be grading papers or reading or something else totally productive and totally work oriented.

Bella's smile faltered. "They're back." she says.

Jake looks at her, his smile slowly melting from his face. He knew who she was talking about. There could only be one "they."

"What happened?" Jake asks cautiously and with growing resentment. Throughout the years of being with Bella he's learned to mask his true feelings for the stupid bloodsuckers, for Bella. He could kill them for what they did to her, all those years ago. But every time he tried to say something to Bella along those lines, it seemed to send her into a downward spiral. So, he's perfected the art of masking his anger and resentment towards them.

Bella takes a deep sigh, and sits down on the floor next to Jacob. "Oh, I was having a total "me" moment. I dropped everything in the hallway and had to pick everything up, and suddenly Alice was there helping me."

"What else happened?"

"Well, nothing." Bella finally looks up into his eyes, and cracks a half smile. "I kind of freaked. I had this total mental fart and everything. So, I treated her like every other student and sent her on her way."

Jacob returned her smile. "Well, that was probably for the best. What do you want to happen next?"

Now Bella furrowed her brows in confusion, looking off in the distance, thinking. "I don't know. When I first saw Alice, I was elated! My first thought was, my best friend was back." Then Bella covertly glanced back to Jacob. "Or um, my best girl-friend I should say. You know you're my very best friend."

Jacob returned her smile. "But?…"

"Well, I was happy. But then all these memories flooded back from the past. I spent so long locking them all up, and then they all came back like it was yesterday. Suddenly I'm hurt and mad all over again. And now I'm just scared."

"Scared?" this was all making Jacob scared too, although probably not the same reasons Bella was scared. Jacob was starting to get scared that their appearance would set Bella back to how she was in high school, and he was even more scared Edward might try to take Bella away from him.

"Yeah. I'm scared. I don't know what they want and I don't know if I can open my heart to them again because… because last time I let them in I got hurt." Bella's eyes showed how scared she was.

Jacob didn't even think about it. He suddenly just pulled Bella in for a hug. _And this,_ thought Bella, _is exactly why I needed to be here right now. _

"It'll be okay sweets. Promise." Jake said into Bella's hair, kissing her head.

"I know. I just needed this. I needed you."

Finally, Bella pulled out of his embrace. "And apparently, I need to go find some of those extra cloths I stashed in your office." Black grease clung to her shirt.

Jacob smiled shyly. "That was why you put them there, wasn't it? Incase you couldn't resist the magnificent me and got dirty." Jake flexed his muscles and wiggled his eyebrows at Bella.

Giggling, Bella playfully smacked his arm. "Oh stop it." Jake grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a kiss. Sighing, Bella melted into his embrace once again and kissed him back with fervor.

Someone cleared their throats. "Now Jake, I thought we weren't taking those kind of payments for services rendered here in this shop." Bella blushed and pulled away.

"You guys want anything for lunch? I'm buying." Bella says, standing up. "Oh yeah!" The boys quickly start rambling off all the items they want. Bella eventually has to find paper and a pen to get everyone's orders. She spent the rest of her lunch break at the auto shop, hanging out with everyone there. When it was time to go back to work, Bella found she was ready to face the Cullens, if they happened to be in her class. She got what she needed during her lunch break - and emotional booster.


	2. Chapter 2

The Student Aide

The rest of the week went without incident. Bella was both relieved and sad to find out the Cullens weren't in her class. She hadn't spotted any of them once throughout the rest of the week and was beginning to think she had imagined the whole encounter with Alice. Although, Bella wasn't giving them much of an opportunity to run into her throughout the school day. Once she got to school she'd rush straight to her classroom, stay in there throughout her lunch period, and then when it was time to go she went straight to her car with not so much as a glance over her shoulder as she went. Jake was giving Bella a hard time about it when she got home to tell him about her day. He thought it was hilarious that a family she once considered dying for, because she wanted to become a vampire so bad, she was now doing everything in her power to avoid. Bella tried to be angry with Jacob for teasing her about the whole situation, but when she stopped to think about it, she could see how childish she was acting about the whole situation. That initial encounter with Alice hadn't indicated anything. She was spending all this time and energy avoiding them when she didn't even know if they wanted to reconnect with her anyways.

After spending a fun filled weekend with her favorite men, Bella awoke Monday morning with renewed conduct.

"I'm going to stop avoiding them," Bella told Jacob over breakfast that morning.

Jacob was helping Josh pour milk into his cereal. "Mm-hmm." was Jake's only response.

"I'm serious." says Bella.

Jake finished helping the boys, put the milk back in the fridge, and took his seat next to Bella at the table.

"I know."

"Don't you care?" Bella couldn't understand his calm indifference. She was partly wondering if maybe he was still too tired for this conversation.

"Bells, I knew you'd give in eventually. That's what I thought was so funny. As much as I think you should hate them, for what they did to you, leaving you like that, you have to big of a heart not to give them another chance. I'm more concerned about what will happen when they leave again than I am about when you decide to give them another shot."

Bella just sat there staring at him. "How did I get so lucky to have you? I was expecting an argument, a warning, something. Ya know, something along the lines of sicking the pack on them if they get within x-number of yards of me or the kids."

Jacob gave Bella a half smile. "Well, you know me better than I give you credit for than, because I thought about all of that, but I'm not your keeper Bella." He turned towards her, pulling her tiny delicate hand into his massive one. "I'm worried. I won't lie to you. I'm worried they'll hurt you again, and part of me is more worried they'll take you from me than anything. But I know how stubborn you can be. I'd rather you come home and tell me about it, then you thinking you have to hide the fact that you reunited with some friends." Jacob reached towards Bella's face, tucking some hair behind her ear. "But I can promise you this. If Edward so much as touches you wrong, I will rip him limb from limb."

He was so serious in his threat, and yet, his gentleness towards Bella contrasted his words. The whole situation made her smile.

"I can handle them. But I don't want them to meet Josh and John just yet." Bella glanced fondly towards the boys. "I'm a mother and a wife first, and a friend second. I need to scope out the situation before I want to put any dangers towards them."

Jacob kissed her cheek. "See, I don't need to make threatening remarks, you're smart all on your own. Ya know Bells, you're not the same person you were in high school. You've had time to grow up, mature, gain some life experience, whatever." Jake smiled at her again, and shrugged. "I'll never know how you can stand up in front of a classroom day after day and not blush once, but the thought of meeting up with some old high school buddies makes you want to run for the trees."

Bella just stuck her tongue out in response.

"Mama?"

Bella turns towards her boys. "What's up?"

"Mama, do you have to go to work today." asks John. Josh continues for him, "cuz don't want to go to sitter's. Stay and play with us." Both John and Josh had subjected Bella to the full force of the puppy face. It melted her heart, and resolve, 99% of the time.

"Ahh. Guys. You know I can't. I have to go to work."

Both boys, as if on cue, stuck out their bottom lips and their already big eyes got impossibly bigger.

"How about if we do something extra fun today, after school instead?" asked Bella. Bribery seemed to be the correct response for those faces.

The boys seemed to give each other a stare, as though they were silently communicating. When the turned back to Bella the puppy faces were on full force again. "Only if daddy can come too."

This was new. She was expecting some new toy or movie. Cocking a questioning eyebrow, she turned towards Jacob and was shocked to find he wore the puppy face too. Darn all these men and those adorable faces! How is any woman to resist with the power behind that?

"Alright," Bella said with fake bravado, "what exactly are you three cooking up?"

The boys all shared more silent communication, including Jacob, which meant trouble for sure.

"Its surprise." said Josh finally. Bella looked quizzically between the three faces.

"Call me after you get off work Bells, we got something set up just for you. But we're not giving anything away."

"Oh really?" said Bella, intrigued and amused. "So, what, I'm getting set up on a blind date or something."

"What that?" asked Josh.

"A blind date, sweets, is when someone goes to meet a person and they don't know who they are."

"Well you know who we are." said John.

"Yes, but I don't know where we're going. So its kind of like a blind date because that part is a mystery."

" -Kay." said Josh. "We going on a blind date."

Bella smiled. "Alright. Whatever you three are cooking up, well, I don't know what I'm going to do with you guys." Bella finally glanced at the clock and realized she was running late. "Shoot! Alright boys, I gotta go. Mama love you. Be nice for daddy." she said, kissing each on their head. "And you daddy, don't stir up too much trouble."

"Who, me? Oh no. Never." says Jake, with a mischievous glint in his voice, while he jerked Bella forward, dipped her back, and gave her the best kiss she had all week. "Have a good day at school. Love you more." He whispered in her ear, as Bella dazedly regains her balance.

Traffic was on Bella's side and her lead foot made up the difference in leaving the house late. She made it to school in record time. As she was speed walking to her classroom, the assistant principle caught up with her. "Hey Bella! Wait up."

Bella slowed her pace.

"Hey, would you mind taking on a student aide? It appears we have a student who wants to aide an English classroom but no one else wants to do it."

"Sure," says Bella. "I could probably use one. I have a lot more students this year. They can help me keep up with grading and such."

"Awesome! Great! I'll send them right over than. See you later." with a wave of her hand, Cindy was off.

She didn't give another thought to the addition of a student aid until third period when she had to sign a slip to allow them for the change of schedule. Bella was in the middle of looking over the attendance sheet when someone handed her a form. She absentmindedly accepted the form and excused the student to find a seat. She quickly finished taking roll and hurriedly signed the office forms, thinking she'd write the students name to her roster later. Bella was so involved in her class lecture that it took her nearly the whole period before she noticed the new face in her class. She was just scanning the room for someone's raised hand to answer the question when she noticed the boy whose hand was raised.

"Edward?" she asked. This both shocked and surprised her.

"Myth."

"Huh?" Bella had completely lost her train of thought.

"A myth or legend is a store that traditionally is believed to be true, where as a folktale is a store told for amusement."

Bella had to give herself another mental shake. _Focus_ she told herself. "Right, Mr. ?" She didn't know what name he was going by now. She thought for sure she would have remembered if she saw "Cullen" on her class roster.

"Masen." replied Edward.

"Thank you." and then Bella continued on with her lesson. The rest of the class period dragged on. As the students were working on their class assignment, Bella found herself migrating towards Edward's desk. _This is not normal_ thought Bella. Bella was relieved when the bell rang and the class was dismissed. It was her prep period, and she found it couldn't have come soon enough. As the last of the students filtered out of her classroom, Bella gave a sigh of relief and shut the door. She let out a shriek when she turned around. She thought she was alone in the classroom, but apparently Edward had stayed behind.

"Make a noise next time!" Bella scolded, placing a hand over her heart. "Golly! My heart works, in case you were testing."

"Oh, there was no doubt in my mind." replied Edward. _Oh that's right,_ thought Bella, _he'd probably know there was something wrong with my heart before me because he can hear it beating._

"_What can I do for you, Edward? Aren't you going to be late for your next class?"_

"_I'm in my next class."_

_Confusion whirled through Bella's mind. "What are you talking about?"_

"_I'm your new student aide." He said all this with cool indifference. _

"_But" Bella started, exasperated, "it's my prep period!" she wailed. The only change to the mask of Edward's face was the cocking of a single eyebrow in question. Bella really should have talked to Cindy a bit more about when she was signing up for that student aide of hers._

"_Oh fine." Bella huffed. She shuffled over to her desk and flopped down, putting her head in her hands to think._

_Lifting her head to look at Edward she said, "Well, since it's only the second week of school and all, there's nothing much you can help me with. So, I guess for now, use this time as a study hall." Then remembering who she was talking to, she smiled, "Or I guess just… hang out. Or maybe bring a book next time? Seriously, what do vampires do in their free time at school? You guys have already been to school so much that you couldn't possibly have any homework that takes longer than two seconds."_

_Edward took this as an invitation to join in a conversation with Bella. He had so much he wanted to know. "How have you been Bella?" he asked suddenly. _

_Bella sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Oh, I've been good. I really can't complain." She was shocked at how natural it felt talking to Edward again. She thought for sure there would be weird awkward pauses or something. But nothing like that happened. They spent the next 50 minutes talking. They didn't touch on any of the important topics, like what each other had been up to the past 10 years and stuff like that. For some reason it felt like a taboo was on the subject. Almost as if, if one of them had mentioned it, the easy flowing conversation would obliterate and it would be replaced with tenseness and awkwardness. So for now, they talked about books they've read the past decade, music they've listened to, movies they've watched, and analyzing each._

_Just as the bell was going to ring, Edward plucked up the courage and asked, "Can I see you again?"_

_Bella smiled wickedly at Edward, "Sure." after a slight pause, "You'll see me Monday through Friday, in class."_

_Apparently Edward didn't find this very amusing. "I'm serious, Bella."_

_Sobering up, Bella had to think. "Well," she started. "I suppose. I do want to see everyone again. It would be nice to catch up some more."_

"_Great!" Edward said, reaching for his backpack and standing up. "How about tonight?"_

_Bella was just getting ready to say sure, when she remembered her boys and the surprise they were setting up. "Can't." said Bella, with a bemused smile lighting up her face. "I got a blind date."_

_Edward suddenly looked concerned. "Is that safe?"_

_Bella looked at him quizzically. "Of course." Bella couldn't understand why he was getting cautious all of sudden. Was he trying to trick her into canceling on her boys? Surely he knew about her plans this evening because Alice can see the future and she'd know if Bella said yes or not. _

_Suddenly irritated, Bella snapped a response to Edward. "My safety isn't any of your concern, now, is it?"_

"_No-, Now Bella," Edward stuttered, shocked at her change in attitude all of sudden._

"_Goodbye Edward. The bell is going to ring now." With a wave of her hand Bella turned her attention back to the paperwork on her desk. Clearly a dismissal. Edward was furious. Everything had been going so well. He had half a mind to force Bella to talk to him, demand she not go on the date. But a new and better idea came to him: he'll just follow her. Someone needs to look out for her. With that thought in mind, Edward quietly shut the door behind him as he exited the classroom._

_The rest of the school day went flew by. Thoughts of Edward randomly surfaced through her mind throughout the day, but then the image of one of her boys would pop in and it acted as the perfect Edward eclipse. Whenever she thought about one of her boys, any hint of thought of Edward flew right out the window. So it was with renewed excitement that Bella hurriedly packed her purse up and raced to her car. On the way, she phoned Jacob._

"_Hey, I'm just leaving now. Where should I meet you guys?"_

"_Hey Bells!" boomed Jacob's joyous voice. "I'll give you an address and you can just punch it into the GPS, okay? It's probably be easier anyhow."_

_Smiling, Bella unlocked her car, threw her purse into the passenger seat, and rummaged around for her GPS. "Alright. Give me a second to find it than. … Ah! Here we go. Okay, give it to me."_

_Jake rattled of a random address, with Bella repeating it back to him to make sure she got it right._

"_Alright stud," Bella giggled, "I'll see you in a few. Don't start the party without me." Bella disconnected the phone with Jake's laugh echoing in her ear. Bella's thoughts were so monopolized with her favorite men that she failed to notice the shadow of a figure lurking just outside the teacher's parking lot._


	3. Chapter 3

Bella drove as fast as her GPS would give her directions. It was taking her into a different part of town, one in which she wasn't as familiar with. That's the thing about living in a big city though, you could live in the same place for ages and still find new places to discover. Her lead foot got her to her destination in record time - ever since high school when Jake taught her how to ride a motorcycle, Bella has developed a need for speed.

Pulling up to her destination, Bella noticed it was a park. A large gorgeous park she never knew existed. She drove around the parking lot looking for Jake's truck and when she found it, she parked next to it. Off in the distance there was a reasonably sized jungle-gym with picnic tables on the perimeter. Knowing her sons, they were probably over there playing; smiling, she headed in that direction. Making her way through the scattered trees, she stopped right before the clearing, leaned against the large trunk of one tree, and scanned the playground. Sure enough, there were her two boys racing around the playground. It looked like they were having another one of their contests of who was better at something. This particular one seemed to be who was better at the monkey-bars. It looked as though Josh always got one more rung further than John, before they'd drop to the ground and try again. Neither could make it all the way across yet. Bella was so involved in watching her boys that she didn't notice the shadow lurking among the trees.

"Did it hurt?" a deep voice spoke from behind her, breaking the silence and making Bella jump. She turned to look behind her and found her husband.

"Ya know, did it hurt, when you fell from heaven?"

"You think that line ever really works?" Bella asking in wonder, smiling at her husband. Jacob flashed her a brilliant smile, stepped towards her and was about to reach for her when he stiffened.

"You brought a friend?" Jake looked wounded, even though he tried to mask it with a face of indifference.

Bella just furrowed her brows in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Why was Jacob looking at her like that? She was about to step towards him when a hand grasped her arm, yanking her backwards. It happened so fast, Bella didn't have time to react. Next think she knew she was standing behind another man. She couldn't see his face, but she didn't need to to know who he was. She'd recognize his messy bronze hair anywhere, and it also explained Jacobs expression. He thought she had invited Edward to their family date.

Bella tried to move around Edward, but he shot a protective hand out again. "Stay back!" he growled at her.

"Edward..." anger was slowly building inside her. Her voice held total calm. Jacob quickly recognized it; it was like the calm before the storm. Whenever Bella really got angry, she was perfectly calm before she would blow up with built up frustration. Seeing Bella's reaction to Edward reassured Jacob, some.

"Edward," Bella tried again, resolving herself to remain as call as possible, "you have about two seconds to remove your hand from me."

Surprised by the steel in her voice, Edward chanced a glance at her face and was shocked to see the anger building behind her eyes. "Bella, you don't understand. You're not safe around this man. There are more dangerous things than vampires out there." Couldn't she see he was trying to protect her? The old Bella would have accepted his reaction; she may not have agreed to it, but she defiantly would have trusted him. This Bella, though, seemed to seethe upon hearing his reply. He could almost picture smoke coming out of her ears.

"That -man- is not dangerous, at least not to me. If, however, you don't back out of my personal space, I cannot guarantee how safe -you- will be."

"Bella..." Edward hesitated, "he's a werewolf."

"AND" said Bella, "He also happens to be my husband." This reply seemed to throw Edward completely. He seemed prepared for any response, but not that.

"Wha-?" Edward was at a loss for words. Bella took the opportunity to shove past him and into the embrace of her husbands strong arms. Jacob wrapped a possessive arm around Bella's waist; his beamed at Edward gloatingly.

"B-but, you don't wear a ring." said Edward, checking once again to her left hand.

Bella glanced down, and blushed. This wasn't the first time wearing a ring would have come in handy. "Yeah," Bella said, glancing sheepishly up at Jacob, "I have issues with jewelry. I have this gorgeous ring at home Jake bought me, but it just... gets in the way a lot. So I keep it in a safe box." Bella glance back to Edward; most of her anger disappearing and being replaced with annoyance.

Edward seemed to finally digest the information, his expression a mix of horror and disgust. "You married a -werewolf- ?!?!" he bellowed.

For some reason, Bella seemed to find this whole situation rather amusing, and she quirked an eyebrow at Edward, a small smile playing on her lips. "Its not your concern, now is it? What are you doing here anyways Edward." Bella glanced up at Jacob again, "I didn't invite him here, I swear. He must have followed me." Bella's eyes were pleading with Jacob to understand. She knew he was having doubts about the Cullens making an appearance back in her life, but she didn't want him to think that one hello from Edward and she'd go running back to him like a well trained dog.

Edward looked embarrassed. "I followed you." He mumbled, looking down at the ground.

"Why?!" Bella asked, confused.

"I..." Edward struggled for the right words. "I, I wanted to make sure you were safe." Now that he got that out, he couldn't seem to stop the verbal diarrhoea "Blind dates are risky, you never know who the person is and if they're safe or not. I was concerned. I wanted to make sure you were safe, so I followed you. I wasn't going to interrupt the date or anything, but then I smelt werewolf and knew you were in danger, so I reacted."

Annoyance flickered back in Bella's mind. "Since when do you care if I'm safe? Y'all left with not so much as a goodbye! No forwarding address, no telephone number! I don't see or hear from you for 10 years! 10 years, Edward! I could have died in those 10 years! Car crash, drowning, whatever. I bet you haven't even thought about me once in those stinking 10 years." Past wounds seemed to resurface and fuel the fire. "I want you out of here. You are not welcome near me or my family. Especially my family! The only time I want to see you is in school when I'm paid to be in the same room! You revoked any right to be concerned or involved in my life when you left like you did. From this point on, if we have any contact at all, it'll be on my terms. And right now Edward -" Bella had stomped forward during her little rant. Now she was almost chest to chest with a very shocked Edward. Bella shoved her finger in his chest, "right now Edward, I don't want any contact with you, outside of school. Get lost!"

Edward seemed to want to say something, or several somethings. A lot seemed to have changed about Bella, but one thing he was sure remained the same was her stubbornness. He could see there would be no backing down. He'd have to revisit this fight another day. Jaw clenched tight, Edward inclined his head towards Bella in way of conceding, glared once at Jacob, and disappeared. Bella's raised hand was pointing in thin air.

Jacob's chuckle broke the silence. Bella turned a questioning look towards him. "I've never been a bystander when the storm is released." Jacob chuckled some more, "You are quite a sight when you're mad, you know that?"

Bella smiled in response. "Yeah?"

Jacob scooped her little body in his big arms and pulled her tight to him, bending his head to her ear he whispered, "Yeah, and its sexy as hell."

Bella playfully smacked his arm, earning another barking laugh out of Jacob. Hand in hand, they walked together towards the playground and their two gorgeous boys.

Bella and Jacob spent the rest of the afternoon playing at the park with their kids. When everyone seemed sufficiently tired, Jacob directed everyone over to a table where he had stashed a picnic basket and dinner. Everyone was too busy scarfing the food down to make conversations.

Jacob was the first one to clear the silence. "Alright boys, ready for part two of the date?" The boys, initially, looked like they were ready for a nap, now perked up in excitement. They ran over to Jacob. Jacob grabbed a knife from the picnic basket and seemed to be taping out a beat on the table. What happened next sent Bella into a fit of giggles. Jacob and their two young boys rapped out a Happy Birthday song to her. It appeared as though they had practiced it too. Everyone was on beat and everything. It shocked Bella that she could have forgotten it was her birthday, and was incredibly touched they went to so much effort to make her feel special today. It was the perfect birthday gift. A wonderful and pleasant evening together as a family, Jacob preparing dinner, and now finishing with her own remixed birthday song.

It was 10 years ago on her birthday that she thought her life was over. That fateful birthday with the Cullens resulted in them leaving, and Bella struggling with depression for the next few years. Back then, Bella thought she would hate her birthdays for as long as she lived. Until she fell in love with Jacob. He had been her friend through that depression; in fact, he's probably the reason she was able to over come it. Back then, she thought she'd never love again - doomed to be single until she died. Three years later, on her birthday in fact, is when she realized she was in love with him. He never said anything; never made any advances towards her or anything. He always remained the perfect gentleman, the perfect best friend. Perhaps that's why Bella fell for him. Because he gave her the chance to figure it out for herself. Or maybe it was for a hundred other reasons. All she remembered was, 7 years ago on her birthday, Jacob had prepared something special and sweet to say happy birthday, and she remembered suddenly looking at him and seeing him in a new light. It was as though a light switch had come on, or a veil had been lifted, and she truly saw Jacob for the man he was, and not just a friend.

Reminiscing brought tears to Bella's eyes. Glancing between a beaming Jacob and two happy little boys, Bella just knew she was the luckiest girl in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Talk**

The next day in school might have been awkward, if Bella let it bother her. She wasn't regretting at all her angry words to Edward yesterday. The more Bella thought about it, the more she realized that she agreed with her angry ranting at Edward. You know, because sometimes when you get angry you say stuff you don't mean and later regret. But this particular time, Bella didn't regret one thing she said to Edward. She couldn't fathom why he would suddenly care about her well-being when she hadn't heard from him for 10 years. That's what was bugging her the most. He looked genuine in his claim to care. But why? Did it even really matter to Bella? Bella knew she shouldn't care, but it was like one of those unsolved mysteries in life, it'll bug her until she knows the answer.

School went along normal. Bella's mind took a break from the puzzle of Edward, to teach her classes. She loved teaching. It was so fun to get so immersed in literature. She also found it rather shocking how she could read a story over and over, but a student will make a comment on something that meant nothing to her, and suddenly there's a whole knew way to look at it. Sometimes Bella thought she learned just as much from her students as they learned from her. The morning was just flying by and before she knew it, Edward was shifting uncomfortably on his feet in front of Bella. She suddenly realized she completely forgot about talking to the vice-principle about having a student aide during her prep-period. On the other hand, maybe it was a good thing she hadn't gotten it resolved. Her anger at Edward had dissipated through the night. Although she was annoyed with him, she never was any good at holding grudges. Trying her best to bring this point across, Bella acted friendly towards Edward.

"Hey," she said brightly, hoping to lighten the mood.

Edward seemed a little shocked at her reaction to him. He was fully prepared to recieving the cold shoulder. He even thought about going to the office and switching out this class, but decided he wanted one more chance with Bella before she sent him away again. "Hey," Edward said in reply.

"Yeah," Bella cleared her throat. "About yesterday. I'm sorry I yelled. But I meant what I said. I guess I've become a little protective of my family. I don't want any of you guys around them until I know they're safe." Edward seemed to begin to say something, but Bella went on. "Not just physically safe, but emotionally too. I'd love nothing more than to welcome you guys into my life again, but it was hard to pull myself together again after your abrupt departure. I don't want to subject that to my boys."

Edward had so much he wanted to say, but the last part caught his attention. "You're boys?"

"Yeah, I've got two little boys. Josh and John. They just turned 4 this year. They're twins." Bella swelled with pride. Edward realized there was so much he'd missed out on in the past 10 years. It hurt him to see that Bella had moved on. Perhaps he was more machonistic then he thought, because he found himself wanting to know more about what had happened in the past 10 years, regardless of the pain it caused him to hear it.

"I didn't know you had kids." Was Edwards gloomy response.

"You'll find there's a lot you don't know Edward." Bella whispered. She didn't mean it as a snub, but it sure sounded like one. She was simply trying to state a fact. Edward cringed to her comment.

"I," Edward began, looking at his feet, searching for words. "I thought I was doing what was best. I was trying to protect you."

Bella was confused by his comment. She thought he'd just gotten bored with his latest distraction and left, regardless of what it did to her. She voiced this to Edward. Edward cringed again.

"I'm a good liar Bella." Edward looked back into her face. "I said what I thought I had to, in order to get you to let me go. I was worried what hanging out with a bunch of vampires would do to you, if we'd stayed. You know, especially after what happened with Jasper." Edward paused to stare at her. "Than again, I didn't know me leaving would have you running into the arms of the next monster to cross your path."

At that comment, Bella's eyes flashed with anger. "You have no clue what you're leaving did to me, so don't judge me or my actions." They both seemed to glare at each other with unfinished business. Sighing, Bella looked into his eyes. "We could have been great, ya know? But you didn't give us a chance. Now, when I look back and compare what we had with what Jacob and I have, I notice such a difference. You never did treat me like an equal. You were always to dominant one, the decision maker. Everything was to risky for me to handle. Look at how you left!" Bella cried, "You didn't even give me the choice. You never did."

"Of course I wasn't going to give you a choice. I knew what it would be. You wouldn't have let me go. After that thing with Jasper, I realized how dangerous it was for you. How fragile your humanity was. You would have begged me to stay. It wasn't right."

Bella, sighing in frustration, slumped in her seat behind her desk. "You're right, it wasn't right. Even yesterday was an example of how wrong you are. I am my own person, Edward. I can make my own decisions. I don't need you to make them all for me. We never would have lasted. You probably did me a favor. Eventually, you would have smothered me until I was gasping for my own life." Bella raised her head from her desk, and looked at Edward with sad eyes. "Its so sad that you can live this long, and not know that kind of love. I know now, what we had in high school was nothing but pure lust. Love is so much more. What happens, Edward, when you take away the passion in a relationship. We had nothing to stand on but that attraction. In a real relationship, you need friendship, passion, and trust. You never trusted me Edward. The only way you can grow in life is by making mistakes. But you never would have let me make some. I have the whole world, when I'm with Jacob. He's been my rock when I needed one, but I've also been on the giving end of comfort. He's let me try new things, even when they were crazy, but always with a hand ready to catch me when I fall. There is just so much you're missing out on. And I feel sorry for you Edward, because unless you change, you'll never know that kind of love. Love is a partnership, but you never wanted to accept me as an equal. I never would have been enough for you. I would have always been to young or too fragile, or too something. So you probably did both of us a favor by taking my choice away."

Edward seemed dazed by her winded speech.

"So, we can't ever be friends again?"

Bella half smiled. "Well, we can try. But I have to protect me and mine. So if we want to establish a friendship again it'll be slow, and on my terms."

Edward seemed to nod resignedly.

"But," Bella said, "I would like to see the rest of the family. There is so much we have to catch up on." Bella was getting excited at the prospect of seeing everyone again.

Edward could hear the cheer in her voice, and it was contagious. Smiling, Edward said, "Whenever and where ever you want, we can defiantly arrange a reunion."

Bella, smiling, said "I'd like that. I'll have to talk to Jacob. But I'll get back to you."

The rest of the class period, Edward and Bella chatted away about random things, like two old lost friends.


End file.
